Peasants ejected from Tacamiche

Central America Update, II, 3, 1-15 February 1996

421 former day-laborers were forcibly evicted on February 1 from unused land
belonging to a multinational fruit company. For generations, the residents
of Finca Tacamiche had worked the banana lands owned by the Tela Railroad
Company.

They had been squatters since June of 1994, when the company abandoned its
banana operation, claiming that the land was only fertile for cultivation of
basic grains. The workers were fired and instructed to leave the company's
lands. Despite previous efforts to remove them, including a standing offer
of land elsewhere and a violent previous eviction attempt, the "tacamiches"
remained, planting the area with subsistence crops.

The February 1 eviction was carried out by hundreds of soldiers and members
of the Public Security Force. No injuries were recorded. President Reina
explained his decision to evict the squatters: "It has not been understood,
though I've said it a thousand times, that in Honduras we live under a state
of law. That means that when coercion must be used it must be used within
the law ... ungovernability would be chaos, and disrespect for the law is a
challenge to democracy." U.S. Ambassador William Pryce expressed his
satisfaction that "the government has complied with the law, since the land
is property of the Tela Railroad Company ... I have always said that respect
for the law helps investment, and national and international investment
helps economic development, and that helps the people, including the
workers."

Others, including the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CODEH), the
Coordinating Council of Campesino Organizations (COCOCH), and the National
Workers' Center (CNTC), argued that the eviction was not legal. They held
that the court order that originated the incident called only for the
squatters' arrest, not the removal and confiscation of their property.

The families agreed to resettle on land in El Porvenir, where the government
has promised to build houses, a school, a health center, electricity and
potable water, as well as to idemnify each head of household with $500. The
company bulldozed the squatters' shacks and plantings; in the near future
the area will be replanted with sorghum.